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No.15.
pp. 219, 220
PROPER GOOD. When David announced to Israel the plans for building the
Temple and the store of materials he had provided, he made a personal gift of 3000
talents of gold, 7000 talents of silver which he described as "mine own proper good"
(I Chron. 29: 3, 4). "Proper" meant "owned as property", an archaic use of the word
and "good" is archaic for "goods", and so the meaning is "I have a treasure of my own of
gold and silver", out of which he gave generously to the Lord, realizing that all of it came
originally as the Lord's gift and was really His, not David's. He said "for all things come
of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee" (29: 14). Would that all believers
would remember this. "The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts"
(Hag. 2: 8). We talk about money being ours, but who gave us the health and ability to
earn it or superintended the means that provided it?
PUBLICAN. This word in the Scriptures has no reference to modern usage. It
denoted one who had the right to collect taxes in a particular district. Often this was
exercised in greed and unfairness and therefore publicans were hated and despised by the
Jews, especially as they had to maintain continual contact with Gentiles which forced
them to be regarded as ceremonially unclean.
Zacchaeus is described as "a chief among the publicans and rich" (Luke 19: 2). He
was probably the head of the tax organization for the Jericho district.
QUICK, QUICKEN. The adverb `quickly' is used in all the English translations and
causes no problem. But the adjective `quick' translates different words and always
means `alive' or `living'. "The quick and the dead" is "the living and the dead"
(Acts 10: 42; II Tim. 4: 1; I Pet. 4: 5). "The Word of God is quick and powerful"
(Hebrews 4: 12) means living and powerful. In the O.T. we are told that Korah and his
company went down quick into the mouth of the earth (Numb. 16: 23-33). This does not
refer to the speed of their descent but to the fact that they were buried alive. The verb
`quicken' occurs 11 times in the N.T. and should be rendered `makes alive'. "It is the
Spirit that makes alive" (John 6: 63). In I Cor. 15: 45 "The last Adam became a
life-giving Spirit" is clearer than "a quickening Spirit". "Hath quickened us together with
Christ" (Eph. 2: 5) means "hath made us alive with Christ".
RECORD. The word occurs 34 times, 27 of which use the obsolete meaning of
witness or testimony. "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you"
(Deuteronomy 30: 19) means `witness against you this day'. "God is my record, how
greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1: 8) means "God is my
witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ".